Disasters and emergencies, whether natural or caused by man, are an unfortunate fact of life. Advance planning and preparation are key factors in dealing with such incidents. The present disclosure focuses on preparedness relating to disasters and emergency incidents, particularly those which involve first responders such as fire personnel, police, military, emergency medical technicians (EMT)/paramedics, doctors, nurses, and the like.
Accountability for all personnel at a disaster or emergency site is a key concern for all first responders. During an incident, emergency personnel from various departments or agencies, such as fire, police, medical workers, federal agents, or even utility workers may become involved at the incident site. Some of these individuals may not possess the requisite devices or equipment to communicate with incident commanders or other supervisory personnel. Similarly, an incident commander often does not have the relevant information about personnel from other departments or agencies who are involved in the incident. Thus, accountability may not be achieved for all personnel.
An on-site commander often needs to know the number of personnel on site in order to properly staff the disaster and determine whether additional reinforcements must be called in. It is also important to know identifying factors about the personnel on site, such as their position or rank, in order to establish a proper chain of command in dealing with the incident at hand. Further, the on-site commander needs to keep a precise accounting of the personnel entering and leaving an incident site, so that no first responder is left behind.
Several different systems and methods are conventionally known for the accounting of personnel at an emergency site. For example, computerized accountability systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,596,652 and 5,793,882. According to these systems, emergency responders must report to a scene with a portable machine-readable ID that not only identifies the responder, but also includes the responder's qualification information. This information is stored in a computer by the incident command and is used to assign the responder to a task or sector based upon their qualifications. U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,889 teaches the use of bar code tags or computerized tracking devices which are issued ahead of time and correspond to each individual fire fighter. These tags are specifically used to monitor the amount of time that a personnel member is present in an emergency zone, and an alarm sounds to indicate when time expires. U.S. Pat. No. 8,995,946 teaches the use of cell phone devices which are carried with each responder, which cell phones serve as an ID artifact which contains identifying information about the responder. These units contain qualification information to determine whether a personnel member is or is not allowed within a certain area. U. S. Publ. No. 2004/0174269 discloses a system which utilizes radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and RFID readers, to be displayed on a collection board having an RFID antenna. A problem with the above known systems is that the emergency responders must remember to carry pre-issued devices or ID tags with them, and responders from other departments or volunteers may not have a device or ID or tag which corresponds to the particular on-site system in use.
A clear need exists for a user-friendly, uncomplicated system having components which are capable of uniquely and properly identifying all personnel participating in an incident, and tracking their whereabouts at the incident site. A further need exists for preventing certain biographical information entered into the inventive system from becoming viewable by all persons or agencies with access to the system.